ETHICALLY IMPOSSIBLE” STD Research in Guatemala from 1946-1948 
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John Cutler. (1955, Eebruary 24). Pinal Syphilis Report. PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR 0000694. 
Richard Arnold to John Cutler. (1947, April 11). Correspondence. PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR 0001061. 
John Cutler. (1955, Pebruary 24). Pinal Syphilis Report. PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR 0000766. 
Ibid, PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR 0000679. 
Ibid, PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR_0000766. 
Ibid, PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR_0000706. 
John Mahoney to John Cutler. (1947, September 8). Correspondence. PCSBI HSPI Archives, 
CTLR 0001234. He was most likely referring to his published work on the effectiveness of the orvus- 
mapharsen prophylaxis in rabbits. Arnold, R.C., Mahoney, J.F. (1948, May). Local prophylaxis in 
experimental syphilis of the rabbit. The Journal of Venereal Disease Information 29:138-141. 
John Mahoney to John Cutler. (1947, September 8). Correspondence. PCSBI HSPI Archives, 
CTLR_0001234. Dr. Mahoney had been arguing that the contact method of syphilis inoculation (i.e., with 
a pledget soaked in syphilis spirochetes placed upon intact skin) was the best practice in syphilis research. 
See Mahoney, J. (1936, May). An experimental resurvey of the basic factors concerned in prophylaxis in 
syphilis. The Military Surgeon 352-353. 
John Mahoney to John Cutler. (1947, September 8). Correspondence. PCSBI HSPI Archives, 
CTLR 0001234. 
In addition, in order to perform “a comprehensive study of the reliability of serology as a diagnostic 
instrument among aboriginal peoples in tropical America,” it “would require a different approach than 
the one being used at the present.” They would “be obligated to canvass the South and Central American 
natives, the Mexican Indians, the Indian tribes in the United States and, finally, the southern negro.” This 
type of study would require “mobile teams capable of doing medical work as well as serology,” and Dr. 
Mahoney was “not at all sure that we could make the necessary financial arrangements.” John Mahoney to 
John Cutler (1947, September 8). Correspondence. PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR 0001233. 
John Cutler to John Mahoney. (1947, September 18). Correspondence. PCSBI HSPI Archives, 
CTLR 0001231. 
Ibid. Between 1924 and 1927, Drs. Alan Chesney and Jarold Kemp, both of the Johns Hopkins University 
Department of Medicine, published a series of articles regarding syphilis experiments done on rabbits. The 
experiments included reinoculation and reinfection, treatment with arsphenamine, and the relationship 
between the dose of inoculum given and the incubation period of the infection induced. Chesney, A.M., 
Kemp, J.E. (1924). Experimental observations on the “cure” of syphilis in the rabbit with arsphenamine. 
Journal of Experimental Medicine 39(4):553-564; Chesney, A.M., Kemp, J.E. (1925). Studies in 
experimental syphilis: I. The influence of the size of inoculum on the course of experimental syphilis in 
the rabbit. Journal of Experimental Medicine 41(4):479-485; Chesney, A.M., Kemp, J.E. (1925). Studies in 
experimental syphilis: II. The influence of a non-specific inflammatory reaction upon the development of 
the chancre. Journal of Experimental Medicine 41(4):487-502; Chesney, A.M., Kemp, J.E. (1925). Studies 
in experimental syphilis: III. Further observations on the possibility of cure of syphilis in the rabbit with 
arsphenamine. Journal of Experimental Medicine 42(1):17-31; Chesney, A.M., Kemp, J.E. (1925). Studies 
in experimental syphilis: IV. The survival of Treponema pallidum in the internal organs of treated and 
untreated rabbits. Journal of Experimental Medicine 42(1): 33-42; Chesney, A.M., Kemp, J.E. (1926). 
Studies in experimental syphilis: VI. On variations in the response of treated rabbits to reinoculation; and 
on cryptogenetic reinfection with syphilis. Journal of Experimental Medicine 44(5):589-606; Chesney, 
A.M., Kemp, J.E. (1927). Studies in experimental syphilis: VII. Reinoculation of treated and untreated 
syphilitic rabbits with heterologous strains of Treponema pallidum. Journal of Experimental Medicine 
46(2):223-237. 
John Cutler to John Mahoney. (1947, September 18). Correspondence. PCSBI HSPI Archives, 
CTLR 0001231. 
Ibid, PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR 0001229. Dr. Mahoney had already addressed this heroic challenge 
method counterargument in his Terre Haute publication, and he pointed out that the “usefulness of the 
experimental approach” required “that the experimental routine reasonably approximate the mode of 
transmission which is operative in female to male infection of human beings — this, in order that the 
burden placed upon the prophylactic agent might not be greatly in excess of that imposed by natural 
exposure (emphasis added).” Mahoney, J.F., et al. (1946). Op cit., 3. 
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